The Government’s former heart disease research chief has said he would still not send his own daughter for treatment at Leeds General Infirmary’s child cardiac unit.

Professor Sir Roger Boyle - who is now director of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research, which oversees NHS mortality data - told the BBC that care at the centre was “on the edge of acceptability”.

His comments came as NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh insisted his move to suspend children’s heart surgery in Leeds was not a “knee-jerk reaction”.

He said he could not “sit on” data about high death rates without doing something about it.

During the scandals at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and Bristol Royal Infirmary, officials spent time analysing high mortality rates while patients were being harmed, Sir Bruce said.

“Thirteen years ago there was a massive public inquiry into children’s heart surgery in Bristol and only two weeks ago the Government reported on a massive public inquiry into events in Mid Staffordshire,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.

“One of the characteristics that was common of both of those was that people argued about data when it was presented, they argued about how reliable it was, whether the analysis was correct and in the mean time patients were harmed.

“I don’t think as medical director of the NHS I can sit on information like that - I think pause and clarification is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of NHS England

Surgery at the hospital was suspended at the end of last month after NHS England said it had “serious concerns” that data showed the unit had a death rate double that of other centres. It resumed again on Wednesday.

Sir Roger, who bought the mortality data to the attention of Sir Bruce, said that despite safety assurances, a comprehensive analysis of data at Leeds General Infirmary called for the children’s cardiac unit to remain under supervision.

“We find they’re just on the edge of what we call an alert. In other words, showing that they were right on the edge of acceptability,” he told the BBC.

He added that he would not send his children to Leeds. “I would go somewhere else,” he said. “I would go to Newcastle.”

Sir Bruce said he “disagreed” with Sir Roger’s comments, adding: “When I was originally presented with the data and the concerns that landed on my desk a couple of weeks ago, I would not have allowed my child to be operated upon in Leeds - therefore it is not fair that I would have allowed it for other people.

“Having reviewed the unit, having reviewed the data, the performance in Leeds is in keeping with good national standards and I would be very happy to have my child operated upon in Leeds.”

On Wednesday it emerged that 10 sick children have had to be transferred up to 120 miles during the suspension of surgery, including Birmingham, Alder Hey in Liverpool, Newcastle and Leicester.

Mike Bewick, deputy medical director of NHS England, said that officials are currently examining how the “unit operates as a whole”.

He added that he hoped the unit would soon be given a “full clean bill of health”.